Only Fools And Horses "permanent cliffhanger" episode endings
Yes, people may say, it is only a sitcom, but I am sure some die hard fans of "Only Fools And Horses" cannot help but wonder how certain episode endings were resolved, i.e., the ones which ended with a memorable scene and of which the following episode did not carry on from where they left off, and/or the ending in the previous episode was never referred to again. I think this may have been a deliberate ploy by John Sullivan to keep the viewers guessing as to how the storyline was resolved, or for them to work out what happened next. One big example is, in "The Sky's the Limit", Del finds out the satellite dish he bought was stolen from the main runway at Gatwick Airport, and at the end of the episode a plane is flying towards the Trotters flat in their towerblock. The next episode "The Chance of a Lunchtime", begun with Del pouring a cup of tea, and no mention at all about the plane coming towards their flat. Obviously the plane managed to swerve at the last minute. So this page tries to explore the likeliest outcome to some of these "permanent cliffhangers". Of course, not every episode did have such a cliffhanger, and the outcome was tied up at the end of the episode, such as "Big Brother" where Del said he dumped the briefcases in the river and then invited Rodney down to the pub. And the odd episode had such a cliffhanger which was mentioned in subsequent episodes such as originally in "The Jolly Boys' Outing" where the end of the episode saw Rodney come into Del's flat with his suitcases, Cassandra threw him out for hitting her boss. In the next episode, "Rodney Come Home", Rodney said she threw him out but only for a couple of days. Anyway back to "permanent cliffhanger" episodes. Luvvly Jubbly. NB. Some of the cliffhangers were revealed in Del's autobiography He Who Dares from 2015. OFAH episodes with endings which were never referred to again in subsequent episodes and the likeliest outcome. *Go West Young Man - On the way back from a nightclub Del, driving his friend Boycie's Jaguar, brakes sharply when he is told by Rodney that he threw the cigar pack out of the window, which had the phone number of the girls they were chatting up, and after braking, gets rammed up from behind. He finds out the person who rammed him is the Australian Man that he sold a dodgy car to. The Aussie chased Del and Rodney down the street into the night and the episode ended. Likely outcome: The Aussie man caught up with them and Del offered to pay the money to have his brakes repaired, or it is more likely that they got away. As the Aussie did not know exactly where Del lived, he could not trace him. But Del still had to pay Boycie to have his Jag repaired. *The Second Time Around, Del's money grabbing ex Pauline Harris left the flat at Del's request while Del was away in Clacton, Essex. But she left the phone off the hook and ran up a huge phone bill as she connected to Tim the talking clock in America. Grandad found that amazing and said "Hello" and Del and Rodney shouted at him to hang it up, and the end credits rolled. Likely outcome: How much the bill came to would have been about £3000. Maybe he paid it off over time, and was doing so in subsequent episodes but this was never referred to, or he managed to explain to the phone company with the note Pauline left and was relieved of paying the bill, meaning Pauline's revenge plan was in vain. *A Slow Bus to Chingford - Del finds that Grandad threw all the leaflets in the dust chute, leaflets advertising Del's tours of ethnic London, and when they borrowed the bus and arranged a pick up point, Grandad kept saying no one will turn up and even conned Del into a £50 bet. In the end Del had given up and when he saw Grandad had conned him, he threw a bunch of leaflets at him and chased him up the stairs with Rodney trying to calm him down, and the episode ended. Likely outcome: Rodney calmed Del down, Del gave Grandad a huge telling off and got his £50 back. *The Long Legs of the Law - Rodney dates a policewoman, Sandra, and when he brings her to the flat for a nightcap, she recognises a lot of stolen gear from police photos. She tells Rodney this when he takes her back to her flat. She gives him 24 hours to get rid of the gear. The following night they are spring cleaning their flat. The episode ends when Del chases Rodney when he says they should keep some deodorant in case Sandra comes round a bit early. Likely outcome: Sandra came round and saw all the stolen gear had been disposed of and gave them a stiff warning, and Rodney broke up with her. *The Yellow Peril, Del, Rodney and Grandad leave the cemetery after looking at him and Rodney's late mothers illuminated monument at night, worrying they will get their collars felt, and the council may take action against them for Del painting it luminous, at the time being unaware the paint is such, as he painted the grave during the day, and the paint only glows at night time. They did say they will put it down to vandals. Likely outcome: As Del said, they probably did cover their tracks and put it down to vandals, and him and Rodney's late mothers monument was repainted. * A Touch of Glass - Del, Rodney and Grandad have just undone the wrong chandelier and the butler sees the shattered priceless chandelier on the floor. He says he will phone the lord of the manor at his holiday cottage immediately. Del knows the lord has not got Del's phone number and address so the 3 of them leg it, get into the van and drive away. Likely outcome: Well as the Lord did not have Del's contact details, he had no way of tracing him, so was stumped. *As One Door Closes, Del is lumbered with Louvre doors and he also owes Denzil £2000 in money. And he has Denzil's brothers after him. Likely outcome: Well Del did mean to give Denzil back his redundancy money once they sold the butterfly, and Del called out to Denzil as he was on his roller skates, but Denzil being a plonker, gave Del a "high five" as he skated past, and squashed the butterfly in Del's hands. Del probably explained this and sold the Louvre doors over time and paid Denzil back. *To Hull and Back, Corrupt police officer Roy Slater is nicked for his part in the diamond smuggling caper. Del thinks the £15'000 he earned for the diamond smuggling caper is fake so throws the money out of the flat window and it flutters all over the estate and onto the ground. Likely outcome: The money was seen all over the forecourt, it was handed in to the police but no one knew where the money came from, or even which flat it was thrown out of (notes probably ended up in balconies of flats below the Trotters). The police found that the money was real but they could not trace the money to Boycie, Abdul or Del Trotter. However, Slater's fate was revealed 6 years later in The Class of '62, he was sent to prison for 5 years. *The Miracle of Peckham, Biffo catches up with Rodney and wants his trumpet back. Rodney distracts Biffo then runs off with Biffo in hot pursuit. Del then sees a money making opportunity and asks the journalists and news reporter to film some authentic inner city violence and to bring their cameras and their wallets. Likely outcome: Rodney managed to get away from Biffo, but paid to have a new trumpet. *A Royal Flush, Rodney says he turned down £1000 from aristocratic Henry to get out of his daughter Victoria's life for good. Del says he arranged it due to Rodney's conviction for drug use and that if he refused to leave Victoria, Special Branch would have him killed. Del apologises for his rude behaviour at the dinner party and offers to shake Rodney's hand. Rodney does so but Del squeezes his hand tight saying he is a dipstick for turning the 1 grand down. Likely outcome: *The Frog's Legacy - Del and Rodney find out that Freddie "The Frog" Robdal left their late mother some gold bullion in his will and he then died 6 weeks later after sitting on a detonator. They then find out the gold was buried at sea and Del says he will get it retrieved and they will be millionaires this time next year, and then the end credits rolled. Answer: It was revealed in Del's 2015 autobiography He Who Dares that they realised the gold bullion could be buried anywhere among hundreds of square miles of sea, and may even be buried deep among the silt and mud of the seabed, so the Trotters abandoned the search. As Albert said, it took 70 years to find The Titanic, a huge ocean liner, so what chance do they have with a double sized coffin. *Dates - Del mistakes two coppers for 2 strippers as they suspect that his 3 wheel van shot the lights and caused a accident that could have been fatal when actually Rodney was driving the van with his date, Nerys Sansom as Del was dating Raquel Turner that day. Due to thinking they were strippers, Del rips open the female coppers uniform, exposing her bra. He was arrested and the episode ended with Del asking the code of Addis Ababa. Likely outcome: While Del mentioned in The Jolly Boys' Outing he was unexpectedly arrested, the outcome was never revealed. Maybe Rodney said he was escaping some yobs who knew him and were following him, and Del was genuinely sorry for thinking the female cop was a stripper and they were, yes, as lucky as the Trotters are, let off with a warning. *Danger UXD - Del and Rodney find the inflatable dolls they were selling were the same dolls which were being talked about on the news as being filled with propane gas due to an error at the factory. Del and Rodney had left 2 dolls by the hot air duct when they turned the heating up and the gas canister set them off and inflated them, and they were unable to deflate them. Del and Rodney then threw them away in a ditch on remote waste ground one night, and as 3 tramps had a fire nearby, a spark ignited the dolls and they blew up in the ditch. No one was hurt. As Del and Rodney got back into the van, another doll inflated. Del and Rodney got out of the van and ran off into the night, and the end credits rolled. Likely outcome: They then quickly ran back to the van and dumped the doll that had just inflated and also dumped the rest of the ones which were not yet inflated and they kept a low profile for a while. And Del is good at covering his tracks. Denzil's involvement was probably covered up as well. Whether the police found the dolls is unknown but it seems they could not be traced to Del Trotter. *Chain Gang - Del, Rodney and their mates Boycie, Trigger, Mike Fisher and Denzil find that they have bought gold chains off a con man who had said he had a dodgy heart, and he often faked a heart attack while clinching a deal to sell the gold chains. His name was Arnie, and as he never revealed his surname or address, he could not be traced, and the ambulance sped off too fast for them to catch him, so no one knew which of the 25 London hospitals they were supposedly taking him to. Rodney had seen Arnie faking a heart attack, and they believed the 2 "ambulance men" were his sons, and it was an old ambulance. Del and his mates managed to trap him and disguised themselves as paramedics. Del then got a pair of huge plyers and Arnie was scared. Del said for him to calm down or he will have a heart attack, and then the famous end credits rolled. Likely outcome: Del and his mates had Arnie arrested and they got all their money back. *Sickness and Wealth - Del is recovering from IBS due to too many curries and Pina Coladas. At the end of the episode, Rodney says to Del that he is getting married. Del yelps out in pain and clutches his stomach, bringing his pains back on again. The episode the ended. Likely outcome: Del's slight relapse soon passed and he was shocked but pleased that Rodney was marrying Cassandra. His course of drugs soon controlled his stomach pains and he recovered fully. *The Sky's the Limit - Del buys a satellite dish, and he thinks it is stolen by his friend Boycie's brother in law Bronco Lane. Del finds out the satellite dish was stolen from the main runway at Gatwick Airport as he reads a news item on the TV with an image of the dish. Del says he will take it back first thing in the morning. But the dish starts flashing and turning. Del and Rodney then see a plane flying towards the towerblock they live in. They clutch onto each other and shout "Switch it Off" then the famous end credits rolled. Likely outcome: The plane swerved at the last minute and Del switched the dish off quickly and then maybe dumped it somewhere. The dish could not be traced to Del Trotter so he yet again escaped the law. *Miami Twice, Part 2: Oh to Be in England - Even though the Romanian Riesling was briefly mentioned in Mother Nature's Son, the actual outcome of the end of Miami Twice Part 2 was never mentioned again. After their overnight flight back from Miami, Florida, USA, Del came home to find his flat full of boxes of white wine, after he stitched up the vicar in a wine deal, saying the wine would be red, as it represents the blood of Christ. Albert said to Del and Rodney "Welcome Home Boys" and the episode ended. Likely outcome: Del probably sold a lot of the Romanian Riesling but kept some boxes, which were mentioned as being in the flat in the following episode, Mother Nature's Son. *Mother Nature's Son - Del had "discovered" a natural urban spring on Grandad's old allotment and pulled a scam to make Myles think the wine was from the spring, and bottled, when it was really from the tap in Del's kitchen. Del even used some Buxton Water, put it in a bottle, for Myles to test at the local laboratory. The water was approved then sold as "Peckham Spring Water". Del was sucking the land dry as he was filling up thousands of bottles a day from his tap, and had set up conveyor lines and machines in his flat. Also, some toxic waste from Grandad's old allotment, dumped there by someone, was disposed of in a local reservoir by Trigger and DenzIl, Del's 2 mates. Myles was selling Peckham Spring at his food stores and so were supermarkets and even The Grand Hotel, Brighton, where the Trotters holidayed for one weekend for a winter break. While Rodney and Cassie were getting cosy, the TV was on and a news bulletin came on that the London Borough Of Peckham is tonight without water due to some toxic drums being found in the local reservoir, which were discovered that afternoon, and appear to have been dumped there up to a month ago, and the cutting of water is just a precautionary measure. While Del and Raquel were cosying up in their hotel room at The Grand, Del said everything is coming up roses for them now thanks to Peckham Spring. Del says he would not mind betting that this time next week he will be in all the papers. A sleepy Del turned the light off and the bottle of Peckham Spring on the bedside table glowed yellow. The episode then ended. Answer: It was revealed in Del's 2015 autobiography He Who Dares that health inspectors found out that Del was selling contaminated water to the public. Due to drinking it, Raquel went bald and Rodney got sick. Cassandra was suspended at her bank, while Myles went into hiding. Solly Atwell told Del that he could go to jail because of this. A week before the trial, Del visited his mother Joan's grave, and the case against him was miraculously dropped due to lack of evidence. In the aftermath, Raquel's hair grew back, Cassandra's suspension was lifted, Rodney made a recovery, Myles came out of hiding, Del was left broke due to paying Solly, and both Grandad's allotment and the Peckham Spring were both destroyed in a small earthquake. There were only a few tremors but enough to destroy the allotment. *Fatal Extraction - Long story but here goes, Del was going out all evenings down the nightclubs and casinos, it was just a phase, as he was trying to clinch a deal to buy some Russian VCRs. As Del did not want word slipping out he did not tell Raquel why he was out most nights. This lead to him and Raquel temporarily breaking up. The day she left him, when at the dentists, Del asked Beverley, the dental receptionist out on a date. He then gave her the elbow when he realised his relationship with Raquel could be saved, and after a dressing down from Rodney and Albert. Del cancelled their date by answer machine. Del then reckoned because he gave her the elbow that Beverley was a woman scorned, and she was stalking him, as he kept seeing her in the market, in the pub and at a bus stop. She then saw an ad Del had placed in the local newsagents selling a highchair. Beverley had been told by Del that he had just broken up with his partner. Beverley rung Raquel up and they come to some arrangement, Beverley would swap her answering machine with the highchair. She was out for revenge for Del ditching her. One night at Christmas, the Trotters were celebrating and Rodney plugged the answer phone in to test it, and it played the message that Del had left Beverley, cancelling their date. Raquel thought all these months when Del said he was out at nightclubs, that he was meeting another woman. She started to shout at Del and threw stuff at him. Del blamed Rodney for saying something to her but Rodney said he said nothing. The episode ended with the shouting and Beverley stood at the bottom of the towerblock smiling in glee as Del said "What Have I Done?". Likely outcome: Rodney must have then defended Del and must have later told Raquel that Del was out at nightclubs and casinos the past few weeks to try and clinch a deal with Ronnie Nelson about buying some Russian VCR's, and was not meeting this Beverley woman, and he did not tell anyone about the VCR deal as he wanted to keep things close to his chest. And that it was only when Raquel left him for a while that Del asked this Beverley out after meeting her at the dentist, as he thought his relationship with Raquel was finished, but then he decided not to go through with it, as he thought there may be a chance he may get back with Raquel, and the message on the answer phone was merely him ditching her. Raquel probably then listened to Rodney, knowing Del was out all those nights trying to clinch a money making deal, to bring money into the flat, not meeting another woman. Raquel maybe then berated Del for not saying this in the first place, as she would have kept quiet about Del's interest in the deal, so Del could outdo his competitors, also wanting to buy the cameras. It was maybe that night, or a few days later that Raquel forgave Del and they got back together. *Modern Men - Thinking it was a hair-dryer, Del sold an electric paint stripper to his pub landlord Mike Fisher. At the end of the episode, when Cassandra had a miscarriage, Mike was in Peckham General Hospital with a bandage round his forehead, probably a DIY job. He told the doctor that a friend sold this thing to him, saying it was a hair-dryer, and when he went to use it, it was actually an electric paint stripper, Mike was taken to a hospital room and did not see Del or Rodney. Del then came into the waiting room, after comforting Rodney and Cassie over her miscarriage, and walking up to a drunkard shouting in the waiting room. The episode ended with Del punching the drunkard in the hospital then asking an old lady if she wishes she had gone private now. Answer: According to his hospital report as seen in the 2016 book The Peckham Archives, Mike kept the electric paint stripper in case he ever wanted to redecorate his bathroom. *Strangers on the Shore - At the end of the episode the Trotters were arrested for kidnapping "Gary" aka Rashid Mammon. They were lead away in a police van. Likely outcome: Del and co explained that they accidentally trapped him in the back of the van and had taken him back to their flat to look after him, not to hold him hostage. Rashid maybe even realised this and there was no malicious intent. Category:Only Fools And Horses. Category:Lists.